¹² And you, mortal, say to your people: The righteousness of the righteous shall not save them when they transgress, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, it shall not make them stumble when they turn from their wickedness, and the righteous shall not be able to live by their righteousness^[a] when they sin.^{(A) 13} Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in the iniquity that they have committed they shall die.^{(B) 14} Again, though I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right^(C)— ¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity—they shall surely live; they shall not die.^{(D) 16} None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right; they shall surely live.^(E)

¹⁷ Yet your people say, “The way of the Lord is not just,” when it is their own way that is not just. ¹⁸ When the righteous turn from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it.^{[b](F) 19} And when the wicked turn from their wickedness and do what is lawful and right, they shall live by it.^{[c] 20} Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not just.” O house of Israel, I will judge all of you according to your ways!^(G)

A Life Pleasing to God

4 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more.^{(A) 2} For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;^{(B) 4} that each one of you know how to control your own body^[a] in holiness and honor, ⁵ not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.^{(C) 7} For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. ⁸ Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

⁹ Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,^{(D) 10} and indeed you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, ¹¹ to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we directed you,^{(E) 12} so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and be dependent on no one.^(F)

The Fall of Jerusalem

²¹ In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.”^{(A) 22} Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came, and he opened my mouth when the fugitive came in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer unable to speak.^(B)

The Survivors in Judah

²³ The word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴ Mortal, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, “Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land, but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.”^{(C) 25} Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord God: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land?^{(D) 26} You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land?^{(E) 27} Say this to them: Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and those who are in the open field I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence.^{(F) 28} I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and its proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through.^{(G) 29} Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.^(H)

³⁰ As for you, mortal, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses say to one another, each to a neighbor, “Come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.” ³¹ They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them. For flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain.^{[a](I) 32} To them you are like a singer of love songs,^[b] one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear what you say, but they will not do it. ³³ When this comes—and come it will!—then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.^(J)

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he showed himself in this way.^{(A) 2} Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin,^[a] Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.^{(B) 3} Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.^(C)

⁴ Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.^{(D) 5} Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.”^{(E) 6} He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.^{(F) 7} That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had taken it off, and jumped into the sea.^{(G) 8} But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

⁹ When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.^{(H) 10} Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, and though there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them and did the same with the fish.^{(I) 14} This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.^(J)

Jesus and Peter

¹⁵ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”^{(K) 16} A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”^{(L) 17} He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.^{(M) 18} Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹ (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”^(N)

Jesus and the Beloved Disciple

²⁰ Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?”^{(O) 21} When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” ²² Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!”^{(P) 23} So the rumor spread among the brothers and sisters that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”^[b](Q)

²⁴ This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.^{(R) 25} But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.^(S)